Nehemiah 13:19-21

Modern English Version

¹⁹ As the gates of Jerusalem began to cast the evening shadow before the Sabbath, I commanded that the gates should be shut, and charged that they should not be opened until after the Sabbath. Some of my servants I stationed at the gates so that there would be no loads brought in on the Sabbath day. ²⁰ Once or twice the merchants and sellers of all kind of merchandise lodged outside Jerusalem. ²¹ So I warned them and said to them, “Why do you spend the night next to the wall? If you do so again, I will send you away by force.” From that time on they stopped coming on the Sabbath.